Seam- for sewed articles



G. S. GATCHELL.

`SEAN| FOR SEWED ARTICLES.

APPLICATION FILED FEB.6.1918.

5 E S S E N .n W

GEORGE S. GATCHELL', 0F ROSELLE "PARK, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO THE SINGER MANUFACTURING COMPANY, A .CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

sE- ron sEwED ARTICLES.

Specification of Letters Patent. f Patentd June 10, 1919.

Application led February 6, 19,18. Serial No. 215,681.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, GEORGE S. GATCHELL,

.a citizen of the United States, residing at ments made from knit goods. An object of' the invention is to ,provide a neat and durable edge-finishing seam which will re main in its original flat condition so as not to irritate the wearer of the garment and which will possess suiiicient strength and body to resist the various strains to which it is likely to be subjected. While 1t has heretofore been proposed to give additional strength and body to an edge-finishing seam by incorporating a reinforcing ply therein, as by folding back an edge-portion of material on the main bodyortion thereof and overseaming the edgeold, the product has been unsatisfactory as in some instances the inner or raw edge of the reinforcing or folded over ply has not been covered, and in others Ythe reinforcing ply, although covered, has been left free to curl up within the confines of the overseam and form an objectionable welt or ridge. As seams of this general type are commonly employed to finish the edges of under-garments made from knit goods and particularly the free edges of thel seatflaps of union-garments, it is of course desirable that the seam possess sufficient body to resist permanent distention, distortion or other strains, and that it be constructed to remain flat so as not to irritate the wearer. According to the present invention an edge-finishing seam is produced wherein a relatively narrow or reinforcing ply is superimposed lupon a main ply so as to extend along the edge of the latter. Covering seam-forming stitches of any suitable character are uti-lizedtoanchor the reinforcing ply to the main ply kbetween the inner and outer edges of s'aid reinforcing ply and to cover the inner or raw edge of the latter. Preferably the reinforcing ply is formed by folding back the raw edge-por- Ation of fabric although a separate reinforcing strip may in some instances be used.

In the accompanying drawin s Figure 1 is a plan view of one side of a ody-fabric,

embodying the invention in its preferred form. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the reverse side of the seam illustrated in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a cross-section of the seam illustrated in Figs. l and 2.' Figs. 4, 5 and 6 are diagrammatic cross-sectional views of modications of the invention.

In thel preferred embodiment of the invention, as illustrated in Figs. l', 2 and 3, the main body-fabric portion or ply l of material presenting an edge 2 has superimposed upon it a relnforcing ply or relatively narrow strip of material 3 whose outer edge 4f is disposed in juxtaposition with the outer edge 2 of the main ply l. In the embodiment illustrated in' Figs. l, 2 and '3 the superimposed outer edges 2 and 4 are connected by the line of fold 5 or, in other words, the main ply 1 has its edge-portion folded back upon the face of the main'ply along the line of fold 5 to form an edge fold or narrow reinforcing ply 3.

Covering seam-forming stitches, preferably such as disclosed in my copending application Serial No. 185,446, filed August l0, 1 917 and constituting a four-needle modification of the seam disclosed in the patent to Munsing, No. 506,524', of .October 10, 1893 are utilized to substantially andv preferably wholly inclose the reinforcing ply. 3 and cover the inner edge 6 of the latter. These covering stitches comprise the needlethreads 7, 8, 9 and 10 which are formed at intervals into needle loops 7', 8', 9 and 10', respectively. The loops 7 of the inner row extend through the main ply 1 adjacent the inner edge 6 of the reinforcing ply4 3. The

needle-loops 10', constituting the outer row, do not pass through body-fabric material or, in other'words, are formed in the air and serve as overedge threads for the edgefold 5. rllie loops 8 and 9 of the intermediate rows enter the reinforcing ply 3 between the edges 4 and 6 thereof and anchor it to the main ply l, thereby holding the reinforcing ply iiat a ainst the main ply) and Preventing its curing u between the inner and outer rows of need e-loops. One or more cross-threads or covering threads such as shown at ll and l2 are looped backand-forth under the longitudinally extending portions of the needle-threads as illustrated in Fig. 2. The looper-thread 13 which is also a covering thread, is concatenated with the needle-loops in the usual manner, as .shown in Fig. 1and serves to key or lock said loops, whereby said loops may be considered as constituting keyed penetrativeV thread-loop structures which enter the relatively narrow or reinforcing ply 3 of material and anchor it between its edges Vto the malin ply 1.

It will be seen that in the modification shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 the reinforcing plyl is wholly inclosed bythe threads of the covering seam and that the folded back edge-portion of material is stitched down fiat to the face of the body fabric and thereby prevented from curling up or forming an objectionable ridge within the confines ofI the seam.v Moreover the edge 6, which usually is a raw edge, is effectively covered and the edge-fold 5 is neatly overseamed. A seam of the character described will be seen to possess suflicient body to hold its shape and withstand" the various strains to which it is likely to be subjected. It -is so constructed as to maintain its flatand neat appearance indefinitely.

The various modifications of the invention, illustrated in Figs'."'4Y to 6 inclusive, will also be seen to possess novel characteristics such as above mentioned. j Fig. 4 shows a construction similar to that shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 but having three needlethreads 14, 15 and 16 formed as usual into loops which are concatenated with the looper-thread 17 and bind down the cross thread or threads 18. The loops of the needle-thread 14: pass through the main ply 19, only. The loops of the needle-thread 15 anchor the narrow or reinforcing ply 20 between its edgesto the main ply 19 and the loops of the needle-thread 16 are formed in the air and serve as overedge threads atv the line of fold in the same manner as the loops of the needle-thread 10 in ,the modification illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 3. The Qbnstructio'n shown in Fig. 5 is similar to that shown in Fig. 3 except that the material at the line of fold 21 is not covered by the row 21c yof needle loops, although said needle-loops are located at the line of fold or, in other words, at the outer edge of each of lthe superposed plies. ply 22 is therefore covered substantially throughout its width by the covering thread 22a vof the seam. Fig. 6 merely shows a three-needleV modification of the four-needle seam illustrated in Fig. 5.

The invention is not to be considered as limited to the specific forms shown and described but may obviously be otherwise embodied within the spirit of the invention defined in the appended claim. 'The above embodiments therefore, should not be regarded as exhausting the possible modifications of the invention. The particular arrangement or concatenation of the threads ofthe covering seam, is also immaterial to the present invention. The gist of the invention is the use of a covering seam of at leastv three needle threads to bind and anchor an edge-fold to a main ply of material; the seam including portions of thread which extend across the seam and cover the raw edge of the edge-fold as well as the exposed face of 4the edge-fold The cross thread portions need not necessarily be formed by threads additional to the needlethreads, but it is essential that an intermediate needle-thread be formed into loops penetrating the edge-fold between `itsedges and .serving to anchor it to the main ply.

Having thus set forth the nature of the invention, what I claim herein is An edge-nishing seam for sewed articles comprising a main ply of material having a free and unatta'chedy marginal portion folded back upon the `.face of saidmain ply to form a reinforcing ply, a first needlethread formed at intervals into loops passing through the main ly only adjacent the inner edge of the rin orcing ply, a second needle-thread formed at intervals into loops passing through said reinforcing and mam plies," and a third needle thread formed at intervals into loops substantially at the line of foId, said seam including upper and lower thread ortions extending transversely ofthe line of seam-formation and held in contact relation with said main and -reinforcing plies.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.V

EORGE S. GATCHELL.

The reinforcing 

